Man charged with criminal damage and common assault after incident at GP surgery
A man has been charged by the police with criminal damage and common assault after an incident which forced a GP surgery to close and divert all calls to NHS 111.
West Mercia Police said they have charged a man with criminal damage to a property, causing nuisance or disturbance ‘without reasonable excuse’ on NHS premises and common assault, in relation to an incident at a GP surgery last week.
Alton Street Surgery in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, was forced to close following the incident.
In a statement on Friday, the surgery said: ‘The surgery is closed and is in an non-operational state following an incident which is now in the hands of West Mercia Police. Calls will be diverted to 111.
‘Normal service will resume from Monday 3 November. Thank you for your understanding.’
A spokesperson for the force said: ‘[A 23-year-old man] has been charged with criminal damage to a property, causing a nuisance or disturbance without reasonable excuse on NHS premises and common assault.
‘The charges are in relation to an incident at Alton Street surgery in Ross-on-Wye on Friday 31 October.
‘He is set to appear at Kidderminster Magistrates Court today (Monday 3 November).’
Pulse has reported extensively on the issue of violence at GP surgeries, including a major investigation looking at the consequences for GPs and staff.
Editor’s note: We have made the decision not to name the man as we don’t believe it to be in the public interest
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READERS' COMMENTS [3]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
Some Doctors claim that Criminal Damage is a legitimate form of protest in other contexts such as the alleged climate crisis.
But would no doubt complain if their own premises or property were subject to such an attack.
‘Alleged climate crisis’??
(not disagreeing with your legal position on property damage here but I might question whether you are a man of science)
A “man of Science” would struggle to believe that the UK achieving “Net Zero” could possibly make any difference to Climate; 1% of Global Emissions is an irrelevance.